Lost Soul
by The Cabbage man's legacy
Summary: Ichigo dies in the place of his mother, now in the soul society he struggles to survive as he tries to understand what all the people around him are saying. They all seem to have a message but no one ever has the answer.
1. Little lost soul

"It's so wet!" the little boy cried as he clung onto his mother's skirt, trying to shelter himself from the heavy down pour of rain.

"Just hold onto my hand and stay under the umbrella Ichigo, that way you'll keep dry" she said, holding out her hand. The boy grabbed it, then holding on tightly he began to walk alongside his mother as they walked besides the river.

"So how was your karate lesson, Ichigo?" she asked. The boy looked away from his mother for a moment as though he was ashamed.

"I lost to that girl again…" he said quietly, obviously embarrassed that he kept losing to a girl.

"Don't worry about it dear" said his mother as she ruffled his orange hair "She's been there longer than you, so she's had more time to get better, you'll catch up soon" the boy smiled brightly at his mother reassuring words.

"Yeah and when I do catch up Tatski won't know what hit her!" he said getting excited.

"See, there's no shame to losing against someone who's had more practice" she said cheerfully, though quickly realising that his attention was now focused on something else. He's eyes fixated on an empty spot at the edge of the river.

"Why's she standing at the edge of the river? Doesn't she know she might fall in?" he asked his mother, not noticing the strange looks she was giving him.

"Who might fall in?" asked his mother confused as to what her son was talking about.

"That girl!" he said pointing his finger at the empty spot impatiently "Can't you see her?"

"I can't see anyone…" said his mother, feeling uneasy, this wasn't the first time her son had claimed to see people where there was no one to be seen.

"You wait here, I'll go tell her to get away from the edge" he said before running in the direction of the empty spot.

"Ichigo comeback!" his mother shouted as she dropped her umbrella and ran after him "there's no one there! Come back!" she cried desperately as she saw her son suddenly stop right at he edge of the river, his eyes filled with terror as he stood frozen, scared by something only he could see. The then he was falling into the river as though he'd been knocked over by some invisible force. His mother ran forwards, reaching out into the river, already knowing that it was too late, her son was gone. Looking down at the ground she began to cry, there was no way Ichigo could had survived. Her son was almost definitely dead. Curling into a ball the women began to cry as any mother would at the loss of her son, though she cried even harder than most since she was sure she could have prevented it. She kept crying, not knowing of the conversation that was going on right behind her.

"Are you sure it's okay to just leave her there?" asked a young woman dressed in strange robe like clothes, who carried a sword in her hand.

"We couldn't do anything for her anyway" said her companion, who though seeming superior to the young woman, looked as though he was about the same age as the boy who had just fallen into the river "it's not like she can see us" he said seriously as he looked at he crying women in front of him.

"Maybe we could find that little boy and use konson, send him to a nice place in the soul society…" seeing the look on her companion's face she stopped.

"You know we don't have time for this, we have more important things to do, it was only chance that we came across that hollow on our way to our destination, we've saved this women, the boy will just have to find his own way" he said, sounding as though he just wanted to get a move on.

"Your so cold Toshiro, with heart like steel such as yours maybe you will become my next lieutenant" she said smiling sure that her comment would irritate him. Toshiro turned around and glared at the women.

"Matsumoto, where did you hear that I was running for lieutenant?" he asked, irritated.

"Everyone's talking about it, Toshiro, the youngest Shinigami ever to run for lieutenant, this mission is about that too, isn't it?" she asked, knowing that from the look on his face she'd hit the mark.

"Just be quiet, we need to get moving" he said, quickly leaping off, leaving Matsumoto behind. She looked at the crying women for a few moments before quickly chasing after Toshiro. Only one strange thought crossed her mind as she left the scene, hadn't that boy been able to see the hollow? When he'd stared transfixed to the spot looking exactly where the hollow had been, had that little orange haired boy actually seen it?

Meanwhile Ichigo was trying to understand his hopeless situation. There were many things that were very wrong at that moment in time.

No.1 being that his body was a few feet away from him where it had washed up on the shore.

No.2 He was definitely sure he had become transparent.

No.3 why the hell was there a big chain coming out of his chest?

There was only one way to explain it all and little Ichigo didn't like it.

"I must be dead" he said as though saying it aloud would confirm it. It was strange, he knew, that he wasn't upset but for some reason the thought didn't really bother him. He was actually almost glad, at least he hadn't disappeared. Though it was kind of depressing to think that his family might not be able to see him anymore...

On the thought of family he remembered his mother, what if the monster that had pushed him into the river had gotten her too?

Rushing home he ran through the door (literally) and was greeted by a very strange sight. All of his family, his father, his mother and his two little sisters were crying as they held onto one another for support.

"Is this because I'm dead?" he asked out loud, already knowing that they probably couldn't hear him, but then he heard Karin mutter something that sounded like yes. He walked over to Karin and whispered the most kind and reassuring words anyone whose dead could say, he then heard his sister gasp as she pulled her herself away from her mother, staring dazed as she looked at the hazy outline of her older brother.

"Ichigo?" she asked rubbing her eyes but when she looked again he was gone.

"What is it Karin?" asked her mother.

"I think I just saw Ichigo" she said, the dazed expression still on her face.

"What did he say?"

"He said I shouldn't worry, he doesn't mind being dead" her mother wiped away her tears and laughed.

"It would be just like Ichigo to say something like that"

Ichigo looked around at the dirty old town he seemed to have appeared in.

"Where am I?" he asked aloud, catching the attention of a passerby.

"You just arrived huh?" an old man asked leaning down so he could meet Ichigo at eye level.

"I think so…" he said unsurely.

"Well let me tell you where you are, Rukongai the eightieth district" he said offering no other explanation, before walking off leaving Ichigo behind.

"Wait!" he called out helplessly "what does that mean?"

"it means your in the lowest of the low kid, things will only get worse for you hear on out" and with that the old man left leaving the little boy on his own, surrounded by crowds of people he didn't know. He was scared out of his mind.

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Something I came up with when I was bored if you're interested and want to see more then tell me with a review, if you hated then tell me as well. I love constructive criticism.


	2. Shinigami

Ichigo ran, he ran as fast as he could as he tried get away from the two men chasing after him but no matter how fast he ran he knew that his short legs would let him down. Quickly turning into an alley he pinned himself against the wall. His heart beating fast as he listened to the voices of the men as the passed.

"I think the little bastard went this way" he heard one of them shout, before the sound of their heavy foot steps disappeared as they ran 'after' him.

Sighing, the little red head looked down at the food he'd stolen. Bread, it seemed it was all they had in the eightieth district and from what he'd gathered from his first few weeks in soul society; he really was in the lowest of the low. There were eighty districts and according to what he found out so far, the lower the number of the district, the better quality the conditions were.

After 'living' in Rukongaifor a month he had already gotten over dying a while back but he still didn't like the place he had turned up in. It wasn't like the heaven or hell that people had described to him. It was neither torture nor perfection, just the daily trials of getting food and finding somewhere safe to sleep. There was nothing nice about the place he was now in, so he guessed that if he had to compare where he was with either of the two then he'd have to say hell. He wondered if maybe this world became more and more like heaven the closer you got to the centre. 'it would be nice if that was true' he thought sceptically as he took a bite out of the hard bread 'but something tells me that even if it was true I wouldn't be able to get there'. It was strange for a little boy, especially a cry baby like Ichigo, to be having such deep thoughts. Dying had made him grow up quickly.

Peeking outside of the alleyway he checked to see if the men were still around, seeing they were gone he let out a sigh of relief, which was quickly followed by his stomach rumbling with hunger. It seemed that the bread had not been enough. Looking around he considered the possibility of stealing another piece of bread but decided not to risk it. He didn't want to risk a beating when he didn't have to.

Looking around he saw a big crowd gathered around a short girl wearing black robes and I sword by her side. 'Why are they all so excited?' he wondered, 'Can't they see that she wants them to leave?' he looked at the women for a moment, there was nothing special about her, tons of people carried around swords and she was plain looking. Prodding a passing woman on her back, he asked her what was happening. "Why are they all getting so worked up over that stupid girl?" he asked, noticing that the woman was, unlike the other men and women, treating the women with indifference.

"Do you live under a rock?" pausing for a moment she looked at Ichigo with pity "Actually never mind that, she's a Shinigami-a god of death" said the woman who then, seeming to think that was enough of an explanation, quickly hurried through the crowd.

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!!" he suddenly heard the Shingami shout, it seemed that she had finally lost her temper and had gotten tired of letting all the people get in her way. She jumped over their heads, making even Ichigo gasp with awe. "I'm on a mission, please refrain from getting in my way" she said, this time managing to sound more polite, though her voice still sounded strained.

"But we want to help you!" they all seemed to cry in unison, they were like moths to a flame, doing anything they could to bask in its light.

"Then tell me" said the dark haired girl, suddenly smiling mischievously "have you felt any unusual spiritual disturbances is this area recently?" The people all looked at her dumbfounded, all of them except Ichigo who suddenly found himself laughing. The people turned their attention away from the Shinigami then and onto him.

"What's so funny brat?" one of them asked menacingly but even this threat didn't put him off, this was the first time he'd actually laughed over something since he'd arrived in this stupid place, he wasn't going to let some stupid old men ruin it for him.

"It was the look on your faces when you realised just how useless you were to your precious Shinigami"

"Hey kid" he heard the Shinigami say, before she jumped down in front of him, startling him and making him take a few step backwards. "Did _you _understand what I was saying" she asked, sounding somewhat condescending.

"No" he said, taking the Shingami aback with his straight forwardness "I'm not even sure I know what you do" he said, speaking to her with an ease that surprised her, though it was probably the spiritual power that was coming off of him in waves that surprised her most. It seemed that she had found her spiritual disturbance, though it was not in the form of the hollow she had been expecting.

"Hey kid, come with me" she said shocking Ichigo and all the people surrounding her "there's somewhere I want to take you" she said, holding her hand out to the little boy.

"I'm not sure… a person called a god of death sounds kind of scary" he said staring at her hand dubiously.

"Just come with me!" she said angrily grabbing his hand and pulling him up with her as they jumped onto the roof of a small shanty house.

"What are we doing up here?" he asked, though no sooner had the words left his mouth, they were jumping from roof top to roof top, or rather the Shinigami was jumping and he was holding on for dear 'life'. There was nothing he could do to stop her, so even though he wanted to get away from her he couldn't, so he'd decided that he'd let her take him to this place and then run off as soon as he had the chance.

Finally after what had seemed like hours of running along building tops to Ichigo (ten minutes) , she stopped on top of a large roof much bigger then any he'd seen previously in Rukongai.

"Where are we?" he asked as he looked down, seeing to his surprise that all the buildings seemed to be much larger than they had been previously.

"Rukongai, seventy seventh district" she stated, then she rummaged around in her robes for a few moments before pulling out something in a brightly coloured wrapper. "Here" she said, tossing it at Ichigo who clumsily caught it. Ignoring the packet he asked the Shinigami a question which had been bothering him for a while.

"Why did you take me here? Don't you have more important stuff to do then babysit some kid like me?" he asked, not really understanding why the girl was giving him so much attention.

"The mission has already been accomplished so I kindly decided to pity you and brought you here out of kindness" she said, her voice filled with the sound of self importance.

"Feels more like a kidnapping" he murmured to himself as he wondered what was so great about being stuck on a roof. The Shinigami, luckily, didn't seem to hear him and urged him to open the package. Opening it, he stared at the object in his hand suspiciously. "What is this?" he asked. "Some kind of monster shape?"

"NO! It's a rabbit! A cute bunny rabbit!" she said suddenly seeming to lose herself in her anger because of his disrespect for the rabbit. Turning it around in his hand he could sort of see a rabbit…maybe. Decide not to further anger the girl he decided to keep quiet.

"So why are you giving me this? Don't you want it?"

"I do… but my lieutenant said I wasn't allowed to pin it onto my uniform, so I thought I'd be kind and give it to you instead" she said, not realising that the little kid was trying to decipher what she'd been talking about when she'd said lieutenant. 'Must be her head of work' he decided pushing the thought aside.

"Why me?" he asked again, still not understanding why she hadn't given it to someone else instead. He was a bit irritated that he'd been picked on and been given such an ugly thing.

"By drawing attention to yourself, you made it easier to find the problem, it's a thank you for making my work easier" she said smiling at the boy as she said it. "Well goodbye kid, I'vegot stuff to do" she said, quickly jumping off the roof and on to another, repeating this process until she was so far away tat he could no longer se her. It was irritating, Ichigo thought, how everyone he met always disappeared without explaining themselves. Looking over the edge of the roof he cursed the Shinigami as he realised how high up he was, he wondered how the hell he'd get down.

The Shinigami ran along the roof tops thinking about her encounter with the young boy, she knew that if he managed to survive long enough to actually age. He could probably become a Shinigami and with his level of spirit energy it was only a matter of time before someone else noticed his potential. Though having seen him he'd probably have to wait eighty years or so, since aging was so slowed down in the soul society. Though that amount of time was only an estimate based upon his level of Reatsu , it would probably take much longer than that.

She was glad she had come across him and moved him into a safer district, God knows how he'd survived as long as he had. Though now he was in a safer place he had much more of a chance for survival. Though the rude loud mouthed kid probably didn't know it yet, it was true that by depositing him on that roof top she had most probably saved his life.

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Here's a game, its called guess who the Shinigami was!

It's very strange but I find this story really easy to write, for some reason I can just do the chapters pretty much in one go… I wonder why

Oh and I'd better apologize for any spelling or grammar mistakes in advance.


	3. Explosion

Walking past the other kids he ignored them as they stared at him suspiciously, they were always like that, just because he actually grew didn't mean he was any different from them. That's right Ichigo was getting older, a thing unknown for those in the soul society and he was growing at a normal rate too. He'd been growing ever since he'd entered Rugongai three years ago and was now the size of an average twelve year old boy. Of course it wasn't only the growing thing that got to the other kids it was the fact that he needed to eat which really messed them up. Though they had all laughed their heads off the time he'd fainted from hunger.

Sighing as he sat down he remembered how he'd found the stupid place he was now residing in. It was when the Shinigami had left him on the roof after giving him the rabbit thing-something he still carried in his pocket-; he was stuck on it for hours until he finally just decided to jump down. The roof he'd been standing on was for this place that helped out kid's and gave them some place to stay. He'd always wondered if maybe the Shinigami had left him there on purpose but always shook it off, deciding it was a co-incidence.

"Hey you!" looking up Ichigo saw it was one of the more older kids who looked a few years older than Ichigo.

"What is it? Can't you see that I'm busy?" he asked, irritated at being interrupted from his thoughts.

"What do you mean busy you were just sitting there spacing off as usual" said the boy, angry that Ichigo wasn't intimidated by him.

"I was thinking, maybe you should try doing that every once in a while" said Ichigo, not even bothering to lift his head up to look at the other boy. "What did you want anyway?" Ichigo asked, infuriating the boy further with his lack of interest.

"I was going to say that _we _don't want you around here anymore!" he shouted, not thinking to be embarrassed that he was getting angry because of some smart arse kid way younger than him.

"So you all agree with him?" Ichigo asked, ignoring him as he addressed the crowd that had gathered around them. Silently they all nodded in agreement. "What brought all of this on?" he asked already knowing the answer. His question was answered by multiple children each coming up with their own unique reason. 'You never talk to anyone your always silent, it's creepy' 'I don't like the way you keep on growing, it just seems so… unnatural...' this one would have made him laugh if he was aive in the human world. 'Eating, it's almost like he's…_alive_' another one had whispered fearfully as though being alive was a terrible thing. 'He's just too weird' was the last thing he heard before the leader, the one who had been the one confronting him, spoke making the others go quiet.

"We just want you to leave, nothing else we just want you GONE" he said fiercely, his tone betraying what he really meant.

"And what if I don't want to leave?" he asked, still seeming to be unbothered, only his voice now maintaining a menacing edge to it, giving away his feelings of anger.

"Then we'll make you by force" he said grabbing Ichigo by the shirt as he said it, punching his other fist towards Ichigo's head. Ducking he kicked his feet into the boys stomach, making the boy let go of him out of surprise. Looking around he saw the other big kids beginning to crowd around him too, all of them much taller than him, he was at a complete disadvantage.

"Don't you all" he said as he took a few steps backwards "Feel ashamed of yourselves for picking on some little kid?" he asked, before launching a kick into the biggest guys stomach knocking him down. It seemed that the karate lessons he'd gone to years ago had finally paid off, though he doubted they'd be very useful against so many people. Irritated and pissed off Ichigo decided to attempt fighting them anyway, though there wasn't really much else he could do considering the current situation. If only he'd bothered to make a few friends then he wouldn't be in this fix.

Fighting them, it turned out wasn't, the best of the choices he'd made, since all the older boys leaped at him at once. On the floor as he struggled to breathe under the heavy weight of one of the boys who'd fallen on top of him. Frustrated he tried to get out from under the person on top of him, he cried out angrily "WHY WON'T YOU JUST MOVE!" he said pushing a hand against the boys face, suddenly out of seemingly nowhere came the sound of a loud explosion, the source of it had come from the boy who had been lying on top of him. His face was covered with burn marks that made the shape of a small hand. Shaking the boy took a few steps away from a completely bewildered Ichigo who kept staring at his hand then at the man's face. The other boys also looked at him, the looks of complete terror on their faces making it apparent that they believed Ichigo was the cause of the explosion.

Without even looking at one another they all scrambled out of the door like frightened hens afraid of a tiny chick. Ichigo then stood up, brushing himself off as he did so, then going back over to the corner where he normally slept lying down he closed his eyes, he had completely ignored the remaining children.

"Do you think it's alright if we stay?" said a child as they asked the other children the question.

"I don't know…"another started "but he didn't say anything so it should be alright… though staying with a scary person like him-"

"If you don't bother me I won't bother you" said the sound of a familiar voice from the corner of the room. The children stared at the red head a little bit uneasily but because of what they'd just heard decided to stay, they understood what he'd just said and it made sense to them. From now on they'd just leave each other alone.

It was a few days since the incident with the older kids and Ichigo was now outside trying to see if he could do it again; not that he was really sure he'd done it in the first place but he'd thought he might see if he could explode a wall. So far though there'd been no luck, he was really beginning to believe that what happened had just been his imagination.

"Damn it! Why can't I do this stupid thing! Explode damn it" he shouted pounding at the wall; a moment later he found he'd been pushed back from the force of an explosion which had come from the wall. "Yes! I did it!" he said excitedly to himself, not thinking about any repercussions breaking down some random wall might entail.

"Hey you!" said someone loudly from behind him "What are you doing here?" turning around he saw it was a Shinigami, though this one was very much a contrast to the last one he'd met, she was tall and very curvy the complete opposite to the girl he'd met three years ago. He let out a sigh that almost sounded disappointed before answering her call.

"I was just sitting here minding my own business when there was this sudden explosion; I don't know how it happened" he said sounding very matter of fact.

"Show me your hands" the tall women said as though what she was doing was very routine.

"What?!" asked Ichigo, not really getting where the women was going with this.

"Just show them to me" she said as she walked over to him turning over his hands so the palms where facing straight up. After examining them for a few moments she took out clipboard filled with a few names. "What's your name?" she asked as she flipped over through the pages, looking over her shoulder Ichigo managed to make out the title 'Possible Candidates' before she clutched the board to her very much revealed chest.

"Kurosaki, Ichigo" he answered not really understanding the point of the women putting his name down.

"Hey Kurosaki, have we met before?" the women asked as she continued writing on her clip board.

"No, I've never seen you before" he said, feeling irritable, he wondered if he was in trouble for knocking down the wall.

"Strange…" she muttered as she put the clipboard back into her robe "We'll someone will be seeing you soon, in about a year or so to monitor your progress. Good luck" she said smiling, before jumping off and quickly disappearing out of sight. Ichigo stood where he was for a moment as he tried to understand what had just happened but no mater how much he thought over it he couldn't even comprehend a single sentence the Shinigami had spoken.

_It was definitely him,_ the tall curvy Shinigami decided as she headed back to the Seireite. He was that kid who'd seen the hollow, that time she'd been to the human world; there was no doubt about it. There was one thing about the boy that surprised her, the amount of spiritual energy that the he'd have to have to have grown so much in such a short time, it might be wise to get that sort of person into the academy straight away. Before he started causing any accidental damage with releases of random energy like with what had happened with the wall earlier that day. Though destroying such a huge wall without an incantation, the kid's strength was off the charts.

Ichigo Kurosaki, she thought smiling to herself as she remembered the name, with such strength you might well become a captain someday.

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Sakuraflower101 wins the contest for who the Shinigami was lol, though she doesn't get anything…

I would put on a new 'who was the Shinigami' thing but I think that this time it is just too obvious.

Sorry about any grammar mistakes or spelling mistakes…

Disclaimer: I don't own or make bleach, I could never be that repetitive.


	4. Chad and Hanatarō Yamada

The explosions as Ichigo called them, had become very much part of his life and were now a necessary part of his routine when getting food

The explosions as Ichigo called them, had become very much part of his life and were now a necessary part of his routine when getting food. It was a simple process of blowing something up and using it to distract all the people around him while he took off with as much food as he could carry.

It was just as he was about to cause one of these explosions when a huge man suddenly appeared in front him out of nowhere.

Shocked, Ichigo stared at the huge young man for a moment before opening his mouth.

"Where the hell did you come from?" he asked the big man irritated that he'd gotten in the way of his explosion… Just then the explosion went off, the uncontrollable energy which he'd been gathering in his hands, exploding before it could be sent in any direction. Meaning that Ichigo felt the full blast and was knocked out by his own power…

…

"Are you all right?" Ichigo sat up at the sound of the unfamiliar voice, rubbing his head as he did so, trying to remember what had just happened. He looked around and realising that the entire area around him was covered in rubble a fact which instantly jolted his memory. Looking down at his clothes, which were now burnt at the edges, he could easily confirm what had just happened. He'd just been knocked out by the shock of his explosion. Basically he'd blown himself up. Pulling himself up slowly, so as not to aggravate his sore arms and legs, he saw that the voice had belonged to the tall man he'd seen before his black out.

"Yeah I'm fine" he answered "It's my own fault for messing around; I'm Ichigo by the way"

"My names Sado" he said.

"Then can I call you Chad?"

"I just told you, my names Sado…" he said, not sounding so much irritated as just stating a fact.

"Yeah whatever, anyway Chad, I wondering how you just appeared out of thin air like that" said Ichigo, wondering if Chad, like himself also had some kind of strange power.

"I don't know, I was being beaten up by some kids our age and then I think I might have died, though I'm not sure"

"Your dead" he said, annoyed at himself for not realising the cause of his sudden appearance sooner, he'd never seen a soul from the living world appear so the possibility hadn't occurred to him.

"It's not how I thought it would be" Chad said absentmindedly.

"I don't think anyone expected it to be like this" said Ichigo pausing for a few moments as he remembered something Chad had said earlier "hey you said _our _age, what did you mean by that?" he asked, finding it difficult to believe that the giant could be anywhere near his age.

"I'm 13; I thought you might be close to that age" he said, not noticing the surprised look on Ichigo's face as he tried to comprehend how they could be the same age when there was such a huge difference in size. Remembering the reason for Chad's death he wondered if they had been bullying him because of his size.

"Can I ask you a question?" asked Chad, his voice amazingly void of curiosity even though he was asking a question.

"Sure, go ahead" said Ichigo, leaning against the wall as he did so, bracing himself for the usual boring questions asking about the Seireite, the guy had just died after all, he was bound to be a little curious about his surroundings.

"What did you just do?" even though he was a little taken aback and a bit thrown off by the question Ichigo answered immediately. "I created an explosion from energy with my hands" he said, pausing for a moment as he looked at the mess around him "Though thus time it didn't really turn out the way it should have"

"Can other people do that here?" he asked, a question Ichigo had asked himself many times.

"I don't know, I've never met anyone else who could do it but I guess there are others.

"Rugongai is a big place, I can't just assume that I'm the only one who can o it just because I've never met anyone else who could" though as Ichigo said this thoughts of the Shinigami came to mind, if anyone else could do it, it was probably them. Though he didn't really know much about them, but he did know that they all have some sort of special power, though he wasn't really clear on what that power was since there were too many rumours on it in Rugongai to get a clear picture.

"Can I ask you another question" asked Chad interrupting Ichigo's thoughts.

"There's no need for you to ask" he said slightly irritated that Chad didn't just say it straight out.

"Is it normal for people to jump around on top of buildings here?" looking in the direction Chad was staring at Ichigo saw a small dark haired Shinigami who seemed to be looking for something…Like maybe an explosion?

"We need to get out of here" he said as he began to quickly walk in the direction of an alleyway "Come on Chad; we need to get out of here!"

"Why?" he asked, keeping up easily with Ichigo using his long strides "Do you know that person?"

"No" he said as he began to run "But I do know what he is: a Shinigami and from what I've heard they deal with strange things in the soul society, sort of like police for the supernatural"

"Then why are you running?" he asked as they turned a corner.

"Well he probably isn't to happy about all those explosions I've been causing lately, I don't know what Shinigami do to criminals but there's no way I'm waiting around to find out-"

"Um excuse me but are you Ichigo Kurosaki?" turning around Ichigo saw a dark haired boy panting hard; he was obviously the Shinigami he'd seen earlier though he somehow found it hard to believe as he was totally different from the two Shinigami he'd met previously. The difference being that he didn't give off the same air of confidence and authority that the other two had, he also looked a lot more frail and weak. He wondered briefly if all the male Shinigami's were like that or if the person if front of him was the exception.

"What do you want with me Shinigami? And how do you know my name?" he asked, now suspecting that this was probably not about the explosions but something else, most likely something about the strawberry blonde he'd seen a few months ago, hadn't she taken down his name?

"Um well you see…She told me that she'd already explained it to you…" said the boy looking a little lost as to what to say.

"Well if you have nothing to say to me then we'll be leaving" he said beginning to walk away.

"Please wait, Let me at least give you your form" he said as he quickly began rummaging around in his uniform eventually producing a tattered piece of paper. "Here" he said holding it out to Ichigo "Please take this, it will hopefully explain things though I can stay here if you want to ask me any questions" Ichigo looked at the boy curiously, he was strangely helpful, in all his time in the Seireite he'd never met anyone so…nice?

"Hey what your name?" he asked deciding that a person like this was worth remembering.

"It's Hanatarō… Yamada Hanatarō" said Hanatarō in a way which made it seem as though he wasn't asked for his name very often.

"Well Hanatarō could you please tell me why you've decided to come all the way out here?"

"Um well it wasn't me who decided it but Miss Masumoto thought you had potential so she told me to come here and fill you in on the details…"

"Potential for what exactly?!" he asked annoyed at the flustered Shinigami.

"She said you had a lot of spiritual energy and thinks you should take the test-"

"Test for what?" Ichigo asked, interrupting him

"The test to see whether or not you can make it into the academy" why can't he be a little more straight forward Ichigo wondered glancing to his side and seeing to his surprise that Chad was still there, he'd completely forgotten about him because of his silence.

"What's this academy for?"

"It's for learning the skills to become a Shinigami"

"So why would they want me to join this place?" he asked, not really believing that what Hanatarō was saying could be true.

"Because they think you have the talent necessary to become a Shinigami" Ichigo stared at Hanatarō as he tried to understand what was going on. There was no way this could all be true, it had to be some part of a bad joke, though he didn't really know anyone who could have possibly done it. There was no way all of this could be true. No fricken way.


	5. sleep and laziness

"So will you agree to take the test

"So will you agree to take the test?" asked Hanataro. Ichigo looked up at him then smiled.

"No I won't" he answered, he didn't want to be any part of this organisation. He knew they did dangerous work and he wasn't ready to be reincarnated just yet.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not going to put my life into the hands of some complete stranger" he said, already resolved on his choice. Though maybe a little wary about the fact that he knew he would be missing out on finding out about his powers.

"Are you sure?" asked the Shinigami, who also seemed to be deciding upon something important.

"I'm sure" he replied, not noticing that Hanataro was yet again rummaging around for something within his robes.

"I didn't want to do this Ichigo but Matsomoto made me promise to take you back, no matter what…" he said as he finally pulled out a little package from the folds of his robes blowing the white powder inside of it into Ichigo's face.

"Hey what do you mean by tha-"Ichigo began to say, before he was suddenly attacked by a sudden feeling of drowsiness, Hanataro caught Ichigo before he fell to the floor.

"She said it was because you are too dangerous…" he explained, even though he already knew Ichigo was now fast asleep thanks to the sleeping powder he had given him. Pulling Ichigo up, with surprising strength for one with such a frail looking body, he put one of Ichigo's arms around his shoulders, already getting ready to jump up onto the roof tops but stopped when he felt a large hand on his free shoulder.

"Where are you taking him?" Chad asked, having suddenly felt the need to step in.

"To a better place where he will be looked after and given proper housing"

"Will he be safe?"

"If he's as strong as Matosomoto says he is, he should be" Chad nodded then took his hand off Hanataro's shoulder, taking a step back. Then with a huge leap Hanataro took into the air, landing easily on a building which had been several feet above him.

A few hours later Ichigo woke up to the unfamiliar feeling of soft sheets against his skin, a soft mattress supporting his body. Quickly sensing something was wrong with this, he jumped off of the bed, another thing he had been on in years, and looked around to see his surroundings. It was dark, so he guessed it was now night and he found that the room was surprisingly bare with nothing but the bed inside of it, it wasn't what he was used to, having been brought up in a room always crammed full of people…

He walked slowly towards the only window, marvelling at the strange creaking sounds his feet made when they touched the floor, opening the shutters he gasped in surprise as he stared at the huge wall towering above the city, reaching so high that it seemed to touch the sky. He had never seen the wall before but when he looked at it he felt a sudden feeling of nostalgia as though he had stood in front of it, on the other side, in Rukongai (he assumed he was in the seiretei because of the luxurious bed), though had a feeling that if he had it would have been with other people…

It was then that the full impact of where he was hit him; he was IN the seiretei… but why? Going up to the door he attempted to open it but it was locked, with rising panic he tried to concentrate hard enough to make an explosion but found that for some reason he couldn't access any energy. Frustrated he went back to the bed and sat down, he guessed that all he could do was wait…

Once on the bed he found himself feeling drowsy, his eyes feeling heavy; it seemed as though whatever Hanataro had given him still hadn't worn off and though he did try to fight against it. It wasn't longs until he was fast asleep again…

Not long after Ichigo had fallen asleep again there was the sound of footsteps and then creaking as the door was opened followed by two women walking into the room.

"Is he the boy you want me to take care of miss?" asked the shorter of the two.

"Yes, he seems like he won't easily go into normal training, so I thought it would be best to have someone with experience in Rukongai to deal with him, the only thing I want from you is to convince the child and to teach him a few tricks to intrigue him.

"After that we'll send him in to train with the others"

"I understand Lieutenant, I will do my best" said the smaller one as she bowed. The other women then swiftly left the room, the sound of the door closing making the boy stir in his sleep.

The girl stared at him thoughtfully, his red hair reminding her briefly of a little boy she had seen a few years ago.

It seemed that the boy she had temporarily been assigned to would be difficult to handle, since he was in his adolescence and was likely to be disagreeable. It was a pain to be given such a mediocre job as baby sitting but she knew she had to put up with it, since it was her lack of skill that meant she had to do all these jobs. She had been stuck in the same place for a decade, while all those around her had been steadily moving up… It was at the very least very depressing for there was no way she could improve her standing by looking after a child.

Just then the door opened again, having been pushed aside rather roughly, it banged against the wall. Seeing the person who had appeared the girl could only sigh, it seemed that the boy wouldn't be sleeping much longer. A rather irritating person had arrived.

"Hey Rukia, what are you doing here!" asked the girl with short brown hair who had just appeared "Cain's been looking for you!" Rukia looked up at the other girl in surprise, allowing herself for a moment to feel satisfaction from the knowledge that Cain had been looking for her.. Then she began speaking but in a hushed voice so as not to wake the child sleeping.

"Another division assigned me to work here; I was told that they would inform you of this but I suppose that there must have been some sort of delay, I apologize for any trouble I may have caused the lieutenant and the 3rd seat" she said dipping her head to the women in front of her, it was important she realised, to keep up the right degree of formality when around her superiors.

"Please don't be so formal I have already told you many times to just call me Kiyone!" she said smiling, not seeming to notice Rukia's discomfort at such informality. "And why did you come here anyway? You know you don't have to do what another division say's just like that…Who ordered you to o this job anyway? Just tell me and I'll get them to release you from this stupid job and be quick I need to get back to the Captain so that Sentarō doesn't have a chance to move in on him while I'm gone..."

"The lieutenant of the 10th division asked me to do this, it was not a situation I felt fit to refuse in" she said solemnly.

"Just another kid for Matsomoto to show off about right?" asked Kiyone only sparing the boy a glance "Well I guess it can't be helped, see ya around Rukia" she said heading through the door.

"Goodbye Mrs Kotetsu" replied Rukia softly as she watched Kiyone exit through the door.

Rukia the put her hand on the boys head and began speaking " I would advise you not to speak or move before you have listened to what I have to say, first of all we are not your enemies but your saviors who have taken you out of a life of misery and poverty of Rukongai so be grateful.

"The next thing I will say is that you will not be leaving this place until we are sure of your complete and utter devotion to the seiretei and us, the Shinigami.

"And lastly you will obey every order you are given by me or any other person of this establishment, making sure that you respect all your teachers while you are learning here, any questions?" She asked, trying hard not to smile at the taken aback look on the boys face.

Ichigo then sat up, with a fierce look on his face.

"What the hell am I doing here?!" he asked angrily, his face softening for an instant when he saw her face then hardening again, making it almost impossible to notice.

"I've already told you, you're here because we decided to save you"

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I guess I could have written more (much more) but I'm too lazy…And yeah I know the ending of this chapter was a bit iffy but at the moment I don't really have the time to bother checking and editing my work, if you have any issues with spelling or grammar point them out in a review or offer to be my Beta (yep I am looking for one of those :P goes off to update pretense


	6. Intoductions

Ichigo looked up at the woman in front of him angrily as he struggled on the floor.

"What the hell is this?!" he exclaimed as he struggled to free himself from the invisible binding that was restraining his arms; making him unable to move freely.

"That is a Kido technique, shitotsusansen, you won't be able to move properly until I decide to release you" said the small dark haired girl standing over him.

"Why are you doing this? I still don't get it, what could you and your high and mighty Shinigami get from some kid like me?"

"It seems that you are not particularly bright are you little one? I had already explained the reason several times before you decided to bolt for the door, we are keeping you because we don't want any more disturbances in Runkongai, the way you kept releasing your Kido so erratically was unacceptable, you need to be reeducated" she said sighing as she sat on the floor next to him.

"Hey miss high and mighty I get all that but I don't see why some kid like you is the one who's going to do it!" Suddenly as though overcome by a sudden anger the girl picked him up by the collar pushing him against the wall.

"Are you so ignorant after living in the Soul society that you have not yet realized that you no longer age? I have probably lived ten times your puny life time and have experienced things that you have never dreamed of, do not assume that I am incapable of teaching a child the ways of the Shinigami!" she said angrily, her short stature had always been one of her weak points.

"So even the Shinigami don't age…" he said quietly, unable to keep the disappointment from showing on his face. Seeing the unhappy look on the boys face Rukia guessed incorrectly thinking that he was upset about being in the form of a child forever. Quickly, she dropped him on the floor and pulled out a note pad and some colouring pencils out of nowhere. Ichigo watched her wandering if the strange girl was ever going to let him go…

Finally after a minute or so the girl looked up again, picking up the conversation just where they had left off…

"Actually there is a way around this as a Shinigami" she began to say, opening up the first page of the note book, which depicted a rabbit with a sword by its side. "As Shinigami we emit more _reautsu" she said flipping the page, so that he could now see a picture of a bunny with a lot of blue lines coming out if it "this causes are souls to mature faster than normal souls, resulting in slow changes of appearance over several decades" she said, flipping over the page one last time to show a picture of a bunny with a moustache. Seeing the bewildered look on Ichigo's face she sat down on the floor next to him, asking "Was my explanation not clear enough for you?"_

_"Just tell me, why the hell does that monkey have a moustache!?" he asked irritably, thinking that the girl was now just having fun messing with him._

"It's not a monkey! It's a rabbit!" she shouted indignantly "And it has a moustache because it grew older and can now grow facial hair!"

"It's a rabbit; its face was already hairy to begin with!" For a moment Rukia looked at Ichigo incredulously, understanding that the way she was now acting was completely inappropriate considering her ranking and situation, but that was besides the point, because in the end she new she just couldn't resist being improper for once, childish. But she did resist, after all he was just a child, there was no need for her to get agitated by such a small kid.

"A rabbit or not, that is beside the point" she said as she picked him up, muttering a few words to release him from his binding "What I really need to be doing is teaching you everything you need to know for your exam" she announced, dropping him back on the floor and watching his delight as he realised he was free.

"What exam?" he asked as he sat on the floor stretching his arms

"The entrance exam, you'll need to take it if you want to become a Shinigami… though I did hear from Hanataro that you didn't seem particularly interested" Ichigo looked down for a moment seeming to consider the idea before looking up again, his eyes stating clearly that he had made a decision.

"I do it, this exam thing of yours because once I fail you'll no longer have a reason to keep me here and I'll be free to go" he said, trying to sound casual. Only a little of his unhappiness at the idea of failing seeping out, making Rukia realise that the kid had more pride then he let on. Maybe there was hope for the kid yet.

"Well that's good because the exam is later this afternoon!" she said smiling, glad to know that the kid hadn't been as hard to handle as she'd thought, meaning that once he'd passed she'd soon be able to get back to her normal duties.

"Right, this afternoon…What the hell!?" he exclaimed, sure that there'd never be enough time for him to learn anything in such short a time.

"Relax kid, since you're from Rukongai you only have to have Reautsu rating and an IQ test, both of which are relatively easy to pass"

"Which means that basically they don't think I'm capable of passing the exam?"

"You wouldn't be able to, since you no virtually nothing about the history of the soul society and the seiretei, its mostly just useless trivia there's no actual point in learning it"

"But most people do it, don't they?" he asked, sounding almost bitter.

"They do" she said, a little nervous as to where this was leading to.

"Then I want to do it as well, I don't want to be thought of as an idiot just because I didn't pass on the same grounds as everyone one else!"

"But its so pointless… you should just be glad that we're even letting you do this exam"

"I don't care" he replied as he looked at her fiercely.

"Fine, I'll teach you child but I'll only teach you the basics, just enough to let you pass, that way you'll be ready for the retake exam in two weeks.

"And I might as well tell you this since I'll be wasting so much time with you, my name is Rukia Kuchiki" she said smiling, unable to stop herself liking the little kid, though it was annoying to think that she wouldn't be seeing Kaien for a while, the fact that the kid looked like him helped, if only a little.

"My names Ichigo Kurosaki, though I guess you already knew that…"

"Lets jus forget all of that and go onto the teaching, I think I'll start on a brief history of the founding of the Shinigami"

While Ichigo was being taught about the boring world of soul society Matsumoto was bragging about her latest find.

"You should have seen him Tōshirō" she said excitedly as she leaned on to his desk; sending all his paper work flying "when I first found him a while back he just used Kido and BAM! The whole wall was just crumbling apart and it's not like anyone taught him how to do it either! A lot of the 3rd rates around here can't even do that, even after they've spent years in the academy! And the best thing is, hey Toshiro? Are you even listening?" she leaned across the desk, pulling the ear plugs out of his ears before continuing "So anyway, I tried to rate his Reautsu but it was just off the charts! I had exactly the same experience as when I first met you except that this time I was even more overwhelmed!"

"And when did this happen?" he asked, sounding interested.

"A few months ago" she said quietly, realizing that for whatever reason, her boss was mad at her.

"Then why are you telling me now?" he asked, his icy stare making it difficult to look him in the eye.

"Its because they brought him in a few days ago, so far he's been reluctant to take the exam but I've made a claim on him, so he'll definitely be coming to us once he graduates"

"If that's the case then its fine as long as you've secured him, we wouldn't want to lose such talent to one of the other squads" he said, while reaching into his pocket for some earplugs, no longer interested in anything else his lieutenant had to say.

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And another short chapter is released…And as usual I apologize in advance for any errors in my work. Now its time for me to reveal my true nature, you know those annoying people who are _always _asking for reviews? Well I'm one of them! And I don't think I'm getting enough feed back on this story, so please tell me why you're not all reviewing? Is it because I take to long to update? Making you lose interest? Or is it because I haven't written any cliff hangers? OR do you just find the story boring? Tell me in reviews so I can try and improve!


	7. You pass!

"So you're telling me that the lieutenant's wife has gone missing?" Rukia asked the 3rd seat urgently having just found out after dropping Ichigo off at the examination hall.

"Yes, though we do think that she might be involved in ki-"

"Then where's Kaien?" she asked, forgetting formality in her panic.

"He's just getting ready with the captain to sort out the situation"

"Thank you!" she said, before rushing of hurriedly to catch up with her lieutenant before he left.

The third seat couldn't help but watch her go worriedly, knowing that this wasn't really the kind of situation Rukia could handle.

Meanwhile as Rukia was panicking over her lieutenant's situation, Ichigo was being told that he'd passed the test before he'd even begun the written.

"What do you mean I've passed?" he asked the man stubbornly, unable to comprehend how he could have passed without taking the full test.

"Well you have a very high Reautsu rating so I thought it would be best if I just passed you as soon as possible" the man explained, seeming a little nervous under the child's penetrating gaze.

"And what the hell is Reautsu and how could you have rated it? All you did was suddenly say 'you passed' as soon as I entered the room!"

"Yes well you see, it's a bit more complicated than that and at the moment I don't really have time to explain it, just be happy that you've passed and come with me!" The man said impatiently, motioning to the door behind him.

"Fine" Ichigo replied defiantly, making sure that the man knew that he was _not _happy at having passed in such a weird way.

He trailed after the man, taking in the scenery, this being one of the first times he'd been outside since he'd been confined or 'kidnapped' as he called it. Only stopping once to hand Ichigo some white robes with a blue stripe across it, telling him it was what he would be wearing from now on. Ichigo could only stare at the uniform, irked that such a place could be so old fashioned.

"Ok, we're here!" the man announced, opening a door to what Ichigo supposed was to be his new room, though from the looks of things it seemed that he'd be sharing "this is where you'll be living from now on" the man said, confirming what Ichigo had been thinking "Now go in there and get changed, so I can bring you downstairs for lunch" the man then shut the door behind him, leaving Ichigo on his own.

The room he was now in was quite cramped, the two chests, desks and beds barely fitting inside of the room. The side he was standing on was pretty bare and undisturbed but anyone could easily tell that the other side of the room was inhabited as the bed sheets were crumpled and paper was covering the desk and for a moment he couldn't help but wonder what kind of person his roommate could be.

Just then he heard a loud rapping sound against the door and assumed that it mean the man wanted him to hurry up, he quickly changed into the robes, then joined the man outside.

"You'll need these" the man announced as he exited from the door, tossing a key in his direction "It's for your room" he added, seeming to feel the need to state the obvious.

Several long winding corridors later they found themselves in a large hall, filled with a few other people also wearing the same white uniform as Ichigo, though he did notice that they all seemed far older than him, the youngest of them appearing to be around 15-16. He looked around, unable to stop himself from being a little discouraged that he would be competing against such an older group of people. He turned around to ask the man about it but found that he had disappeared; using his common sense he decided to grab a tray and queue up with everyone else unaware of his teachers suffering.

Rukia stared into the eyes of the man she'd always admired, loved; terrified as she felt her sword slide into in between his ribs, so distraught that she was unable to even hear his last words.

"Thank you"

She collapsed onto the ground, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably as she was attacked by a fit of grief, no longer able to take comfort in the fact that Kaien had promised to always look out for her.

It was not long until her captain, Jūshirō, found her and brought her and Kaien's body back to the seiretei, where the news of Kaien's death spread like wildfire, after all it wasn't everyday that a lieutenant got 'killed' by one of his own officers.

"I heard that lieutenant of the 13th division died today" the silver man said grinning to his companion.

"What of it?" the other man asked coldly.

"Well Aizen, I was wondering it had anything to do with that experiment you were telling me about the other day" it seemed though, that in the end Aizen didn't get to reply as he suddenly felt the presence of another.

"Who are you?" he asked, putting on a sincere voice for the child who had appeared before him "And what are you doing here? Don't tell me you got lost?" the boy nodded slowly and the captain realised that the boy wasn't speaking because of the strain of being surrounded by such high density Reautsu "The dormitory rooms are that way" he said smiling as he pointed to a hallway on his left, the boy nodded thank you then walked away as quickly as he could "What an interesting child" he mused as he watched the boy walk away hurriedly "I'm impressed that such a small child could even stand in front of both of our presence"

As soon as the two strange men were out of his sight Ichigo stopped, leaning against the wall; he began to pant heavily. Trying to understand what had happened when he'd got close to them, the feeling of suffocating still fresh in his mind. It had taken almost all he had just to walk away. The seiretei, he had come to realise when he'd encountered the two men was not as safe as he'd thought it was, there were still scary people like them that had made him want to bow down by just simply existing. They had made him feel helpless in a way he never wanted to feel again.

After a few minuets of rest, he finally pulled himself away from the wall, deciding that it was time to try and make his way back to the room he had been shown earlier.

It seemed that the man called Aizen hadn't lied, the pathway he had set Ichigo along led him directly to his room and he opened the door to find a peculiar person inside.

For a few moments the two red heads just stared at one another, taking in one another's appearances, both of them almost instantly deciding that they disliked the other, thinking that the other boy had a strange fierce look in his eye, which could only mean trouble.

"Who are you?!" they both asked fiercely in unison, their eyes starring angrily into the others.

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Well the chapters are getting shorter rather than longer and I'm now three weeks behind with heroes and I just realised that I took exactly one moth to update…I couldn't be any happier.

Now on other news, it seems that I've made a character younger than he actually is in the bleach storyline! I should be burned at the stake! Anyway the point is that I had to do it so that Ichigo could have a canon friend in the academy instead of some random OC dude. The reason I didn't actually start him at the academy last chapter was because I was still debating over whether or not I should do it.

And yes it probably is full of errors as I haven't had a chance to look through it, I was too desperate to release this before a month had passed. Well I do have an excuse this time since I had an english essay due in for my course work but I doubt you lot care about that anyway PLEASE REVIEW!


	8. Lessons

"Who are you?" the older boy snarled as he towered above Ichigo "And what are you doing here?"

"I'm Ichigo Kurosaki" he said sticking his chin out defiantly to show he was not intimidated "and I'll be staying here from now on"

"Really?" asked the other boy menacingly "And who told you that?"

Ichigo rummaged around in the chest he had been provided before answering, finding to his surprise that it had a few spare uniforms inside it that were not unlike the one he was wearing "I think it was some tall guy" he said disinterested as he pulled open the drawers in his desk "Why? Are you unhappy about the arrangements?" He asked, the corners of his lips turning upwards when he heard a sigh from the other boy who was probably unhappy about Ichigo's unwillingness to show fear.

For a while Ichigo continued searching the draws until eventually he found what he was looking for, a piece of paper with a timetable upon it. After seeing this, the other boy couldn't hold in his curiosity any longer.

"How the hell did you know you'd have one those?" He asked, with genuinely no clue as to how the kid could have possibly known.

"You have one sticking out of one of your draws" he said, pointing to a lose piece of paper that was half jammed inside a draw "I just guessed" he said offhandedly as he looked over an accompanying map that went with the time table, glad that he'd be able to avoid getting lost a second time.

"What's your name anyway?" Ichigo asked, not even bothering to look up from the piece of paper.

The other boy looked furious as he took in Ichigo's total lack of respect "Renji Abrai" he muttered through clenched teeth.

"Nice to meet you" Ichigo said in acknowledgement, tucking the piece of paper into the folds of his uniform before sticking his hand out to Renji in greeting.

A little taken a back Renji took a moment to decide whether or not he should take the pipsqueaks hand, finally realising that the boy was probably far older than he looked- explaining his maturity- he took hold of Ichigo's hand; shaking it firmly.

"Lessons will begin in a couple of minutes Ichigo, you better hurry or you're going to be late" said Renji, departing some useful advice before exiting through the door.

Ichigo frowned as he watched Renji leave; he didn't like the idea of living with someone who'd look down upon him.

He did however realise he had other things to worry about as he checked the timetable. _How annoying, _he couldn't help but think as he also went through the door, beginning you follow the directions on the map, he'd never even imagined he'd have to continue school after death. How he looked forward to being bossed around for the rest of the day by conceited teachers who had obviously never been good enough to work as real soul reapers.

Kendo was the name of his first lesson, not a name he was familiar with, though he could vaguely remember it being in some way related to some kind of martial art. Well he guessed a little exercise wouldn't do him any harm…

He opened the door to what he assumed was the classroom, though he was slightly taken aback by its size. It was a very spacious room with a high ceiling and a wooden floor, the white painted walls and ceiling making it appear even larger than it was. On the floor though he saw about thirty teenagers, all sitting cross legged and silent as they starred at him unnervingly, all seeming to be fascinated by the sight of the twelve year old boy.

"Oh a new student eh?" said a tall and lithe man who he had previously gone unnoticed "Well why don't we see what you've got?" before Ichigo knew what was happening a wooden stick had been tossed at him and he was hustled, by the man he now guessed was the teacher, into the middle of the room.

"Hey Shino, come over here!" the man said, motioning to one of the more lightly built students. The teenager with dark shaggy hair then stood up, moving to the middle of the floor to face Ichigo, he already seemed to be holding a wooden sticks in his hand.

Ichigo watched as the other students chatted amongst themselves, uninterested. Whatever was happening was probably a common occurrence.

"Okay, now start!" the man suddenly announced loudly, startling Ichigo "first to make 3 hits wins" for a second Ichigo looked at the teacher with bewilderment, not understanding what was going on; that was until the other boy was suddenly smashing the stick in the direction of his face.

Quickly he clumsily put, what he now realised was a wooden sword, up in front of his face to defend himself, before stepping back hurriedly from his opponent as the boy made another slash for his head. For few moments he vainly attempted avoiding any hits as he kept ducking and moving around to avoid them but by now he was tired, the physical difference between him and his opponent made clear as he sweated under the pressure; his breath now coming out in short gasps while the other boy still came at him effortlessly.

Finally the other boy managed to jab Ichigo on his side, causing him sharp pain in his abdomen. The other teenagers were now watching him and he knew it would be a major humiliation to his pride if he didn't even manage to make one hit on his first day.

Blindly he decided to just go for it and he lunged forward with his wooden sword, guessing the direction with just instinct he felt it connect hard with the other boys body. Now seeing the boy grabbing his shoulder in pain all Ichigo really could do was take advantage of the situation. _Just three hits_, he remembered, that was all he needed. Luckily for Shino Ichigo was not a vindictive person and just tapped the boys other shoulder twice lightly. Smiling smugly as he did so, just a little proud of what he had managed to achieve.

"That was a good job for a beginner but next time you should try and be less easy on your opponent, in a real battle I doubt they'd be so courteous as to give you the same treatment…now everyone" said the teacher facing the rest of the students "I want you all to do one hundred swings!" everyone then turned to face the back wall and Ichigo rightly guessed that he should follow suit and followed them in their actions of swinging his wooden sword foreword repeatedly.

There were no more fights and it wasn't until an hour of apparently pointlessly tiring swinging that they were finally permitted to go to their next lessons.

Looking on his list he saw that he had spiritual theory next, whatever it was it sounded boring and when he arrived at his next lesson he found that luckily this time he wasn't late.

He found himself in a more conventional looking room, stocked full with chairs and adorned with a white board at the front, where an elderly woman stood. He quietly sat himself down on a chair and waited for the rest of the class to arrive. He wondered as he stared absentmindedly at the front of the class room if the teacher would take a register or if she would ask who he was. In the end she didn't however, seeming to show as much concern for him as the last teacher.

"Okay everyone" addressed the woman now that the class room had been filled "Today we're going to start talking about zanpakutō, does anyone know what a zanpakutō is?" every single hand in the room shot up except for Ichigo's making him feel unsurprisingly uncomfortable.

"Well it's good to see you all seem to know so much but you see a zanpakutō is something connected to your soul and is something that can only be wielded if a person believes in themselves, its something you need confidence to do" suddenly out of nowhere a long katana appeared in the teachers hand.

"This is my zanpakutō" she explained as the students stared at it in amazement, it was nothing special but the students were interested as to how it had appeared out of thin air "She is called Kuroki honoo and because she is part of my soul she can appear before me whenever I wish" she said as she put the sword by her side "Now" she said, happy that she'd finally caught her audiences attention "I'm here to teach you how to find your zanpakutō"

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**I'll admit that was the laziest ending to a chapter ever, but because I was strapped for time (my mother screamed at me to get off my laptop) I hurried the ending. Not much happened this time and I took forever to update, hope you guys didn't mind the wait too much. ****Point out all the mistakes I made because I know there will be plenty this time… I guess in the end what pushed me to update was having more alerts than reviews ^^, it was really starting to get to me. Can anyone tell me how long Ichigo has to stay at the academy? I can't be bothered to wiki it right now and I want to get this stage over with as soon as possible.**

**Please tell me what you**** thought with a review!**


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